On September 30, 2023, Google quietly shut down Google Optimize.
No migration path.
No real alternative.
Just a banner that said: “Optimize will no longer be available.”
For millions of developers, founders, and product teams, this wasn’t just another deprecated Google product — it was the end of the simplest way to run A/B tests without enterprise bloat.
If you’re still figuring out what to use instead, here’s what actually happened — and what makes sense today.
Google’s official explanation was vague. But from a product and engineering perspective, the reasons are fairly clear.
It Didn’t Make Money, Optimize was free for nearly everyone. The paid version required Google Analytics 360, which costs $150k+/year. Almost no small or mid-size teams paid for it.
From Google’s perspective:
- High maintenance cost
- No direct revenue
- Limited strategic upside That’s a bad combination.
GA4 Was a Breaking Point
When Google forced the ecosystem to migrate from Universal Analytics to GA4, Optimize would have required a major rebuild.
Instead of:
- Re-engineering integrations
- Updating experiment logic
- Supporting legacy users Google chose the cheaper option: sunset the product.
Google Is Actively Reducing Free Tools
Optimize followed a familiar pattern: If a product doesn’t support Google’s core ad business, it’s living on borrowed time.
Privacy & Compliance Complexity
GDPR, CCPA, and cookie consent requirements made client-side experimentation significantly harder. For a free tool with no clear monetization path, the regulatory overhead likely wasn’t worth it.
The Impact Was Huge: Estimates suggest 2–3 million websites relied on Google Optimize.
When it shut down:
- Testing pipelines broke
- Experiment data disappeared
- Teams were pushed toward tools costing $10k–$100k/year
That pricing simply doesn’t work for:
- Indie hackers
- Startups
- Small product teams
- Developers shipping fast
The good news: you’re not stuck.
If you want a simple Optimize replacement tools like ExperimentHQ exist specifically to fill this gap:
- Lightweight
- Script-based
- Free tier available
- No enterprise onboarding
Google Optimize wasn’t killed because experimentation doesn’t matter.
It was killed because simplicity doesn’t scale inside Google.
If experimentation matters to your product:
Choose tools that align with your size
Avoid enterprise bloat
Prefer focused, maintainable solutions
The Optimize era is over — but A/B testing isn’t with ExperimentHQ[https://www.experimenthq.io/].
Top comments (0)